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World News & Perspectives ■■WORLD CHURCH Adventist Headquarters Staff Notes GC’s 150th Anniversary Sesquicentennial recalled with worship program, new exhibit BY ANSEL OLIVER, Adventist News Network EMPLOYEES OF the Seventh-day Adventist Church headquarters building sang old, “progressive” hymns and heard remarks from top church leaders in a brief afternoon ceremony May 21, 2013, that marked the denomination’s 150th anniversary. It was on May 21, 1863, that a group of 20 delegates officially established the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Battle Creek, Michigan. Jim Nix, director of the estate of church cofounder Ellen G. White, led out in singing two hymns—“Long Upon the Mountains” and “O Brother, Be Faithful”—from the original 1861 hymnal, the songbook version used by church founders at their meeting. Nix said the songs and upbeat tempo were selected based on a conversation he once had with White’s granddaughter, who reported that White liked “hymns of ‘progress’. . . you know, a hymn that moves along. Grandma did not like slow hymns.” Other presenters included Marvin Robinson, a great-great-grandson of White, and General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson. “This anniversary is a call for you and for me to move forward on that journey . . . revived and reformed in Him, empowered by the Holy Spirit to live out the dreams and hopes of God Himself as the Holy Spirit leads us,” Wilson said. “God is calling us today to never forget or to be fearful.” The opening of a temporary display on Adventist history in the adjacent atrium followed the ceremony in the headquarters auditorium, which was attended by some 400 employees. During the ceremony United States Senate chaplain Barry Black, who is an Adventist, offered the prayer. Black’s prayer: Author and Finisher of our faith, You have been our hope in ages past, and our hope for years to come. Thank You for this opportunity to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and for the privilege of unveiling a new exhibit on PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS: From left to right, Jim Nix, Marvin Robinson, and Barry Black Adventist history at this world headquarters building today. Lord, for a century and a half You have used this church to bring deliverance to captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, and to free those who suffer. Forgive us for the chapters in our history when we were missing in action and unavailable to help the lost, the lonely, and the least. Lord, forgive us for being silent when we should have spoken, and for speaking when we should have been silent. Forgive us, O God, for our sins of commission and omission. We claim Your promise in 1 John 1:9, that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank You, Lord, for Your forgiving power. Continue to challenge us as a church when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams came true because they were too small, when we arrived safely simply because we sailed too close to the shore. We recommit ourselves today to accomplish Your great mission. We recommit ourselves today to Calvary and the blood that sets us free. We recommit ourselves, O God, today to bring Your love to all who need encouragement, to all who lack food and clothing, to all who are cold and cheerless, to all who are sick and shut in, to all who are incarcerated, and to all who long for home and friendship. We recommit ourselves today to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show Your mastery, where losing sight of land we will find Your stars. O God of ages past, push back the horizon of our hopes and lead us into a future fueled by faith, focus, and fortitude. And hasten the day when the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ rise, then may those of us who are still alive and remaining be caught up to meet our blessed Savior in the air and to live with Him throughout the ceaseless cycles of eternity. Maranatha, even so, come, Lord Jesus. We pray this prayer, in the majestic name of our soon-coming Savior and King. Amen. n 12 (540) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 20, 2013
© TERRY CREWS WHAT’S GOING ON? Where is this? And why is an upper room being built on top of the Adventist church? The lower church is the Seventh-day Adventist hearing church in Pattukkottai, Tamil Nadu, India. The new upper room being built is a deaf church. Both groups will have divine worship services simultaneously since enthusiastic singing from one will not disturb the other. The day this picture was taken (in February 2013) a dedication service was held for two Gospel Outreach-sponsored deaf lay Bible workers—a man and a woman. Counting this church, there are six deaf churches in India, all of which were built with funds from donors in Canada and are led by Gospel Outreach-sponsored lay pastors. —JOHN BLAKE, CLIVE, ALBERTA, CANADA; SUBMITTED BY DAVE EKKENS, COLLEGE PLACE, WASHINGTON ADVENTIST LIFE Weary after a 10-hour drive from our son and new daughter’s wonderful but action-filled destination wedding, my wife and I arrived home and opened our front door to a distinct mildew odor. A quick trip to the basement revealed that water had flooded more than six inches throughout our finished, carpeted basement while we were gone—the water had been sitting there for at least five days. In seconds my wife was on the phone bemoaning our predicament to our daughter, who relayed the news to our not-yet-3-year-old granddaughter. She told Maddi that Nana and Papa had a flood at their house. In words that put all the calamity into perspective and melted our anxiety Maddi inquired, “Did Nana see the rainbow?” —BRUCE HIGGINS, SOUTH LYON, MICHIGAN SOUND BITE “We are losing a generation of young people because they see no value in pretending.” —PASTOR WAYNE MORRISON, IN HIS SERMON ON APRIL 20, 2013, AT THE HUTCHINSON SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH, HUTCHINSON, MINNESOTA CAMP MEETING MEMORIES In the early 1940s my daddy would take a week off from work and take our family to the Oklahoma Conference camp meeting. We stayed in tents, and I had a good time attending the primaryage programs and Sabbath school. I remember the church services during which the conference president would pray for so long that my knees would hurt from kneeling on the wood shavings. I also looked forward to going to the store every afternoon to get ice cream. —GLEN LEE CHASE, OGLE- THORPE, GEORGIA www.AdventistReview.org | June 20, 2013 | (541) 13
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